March 23, 2011
The
Chronicle
Sports C5
JVRoundup
Lacrosse goes on winning streak After an opening loss to Westlake, JV lacrosse bounced back with an away win at Crespi and home wins against Peninsula and rival Loyola. The Wolverines hold an overall record of 3-1 and a league record of 2-0. Then defeated its rival Loyola 6-2 this past Saturday at home. “Beating Loyola was huge,” midfielder Blake Nosratian ’13 said. “We are happy with the win, but we want a sweep.” The team will play Loyola away to finish the league season April 21. —Michael Aronson
Boys’ tennis wins 6 early games The JV boys’ tennis team started its season with a win against Brentwood 18-0 and two subsequent wins. However, the team lost to University 15-3, after which the team remains undefeated for an overall record of 7-1 and a league record of 3-0. “Everyone on the team pulled through and minimized their mistakes to win when we needed a win,” Jon Chu ’12 said. The team played Notre Dame on Monday and Chaminade yesterday, but results were unavailable at press time. —Ally White Daniel Kim/chronicle
Charging the Basket: Skylar Tsutsui ’11 gets fouled while she drives to the hoop in the team’s CIF championship game against Anaheim Canyon. The girls lost the game 66-45, but reached state regional semifinals.
Girls’ basketball loses in CIF finals, regional semifinals of state After losing to Anaheim Canyon in the final round of CIF, the girls continued on to win the first two rounds in state. They then lost to Rialto in the regional semifinals. By Chelsey Taylor-Vaughn After a season of constantly being labeled as underdogs, the girls’ basketball team fell 66-45 in the CIF Championship against Anaheim Canyon March 3. The Wolverines advanced to the quarterfinals of state playoffs against Rialto on March 12, but lost by 16 points. The game was close up until the Knights pulled away after the half. The Wolverines made an effort to close the gap in the third quarter but lost momentum to the Knights halfway through the fourth. The turning point came after a 16 point streak by the Knights, the Wolverines were only able to answer with two points. “I was looking forward to winning after months of hard work and seeing the tears in my teammates’ eyes during the last few minutes hurt,” co-captain Skylar Tsutsui ’11 said. It was painful to keep on fighting and playing while our shots weren’t going in while their’s were.” Critics said this year would be a “rebuilding year” for the team, Natalie Florescu ’13 said, but eventually the critics labled the team “the little engine that could.” “We might be small compared to other teams but the thing that sets us apart is that we have heart,” Tsutsui said, “we could have given up at the beginning of the season but instead, we all came together, pushed each there to work hard and never gave up.” After defeating Yosemite in the first round of CIF 66-54 on March 8, the girls went on to play Inglewood
at home on March 10, and won 61-52. After emotions from the losses faded away, the players were able to look back at their season with a sense of joy and happiness. “Yes, we didn’t win it all, but there is so much more I’ve gotten out of this season and from my friendships with my teammates that I wouldn’t change anything,” Florescu said. “In the end, things happen for a reason, but if we could’ve done something differently I’d have to say having more trust in one another,” Tsutsui said, “if we had [trust] like we had last year, I feel our defense would have been ten times better.” “At the beginning of the season, I don’t even think anyone on our team would have thought we would get as far as we did, but as the season went on, we kept working hard in practice, kept pushing each other in games, and this dream became something we believed in and we made it a reality,” Florescu said. With the season’s end both the seniors and underclassmen have high hopes for next year’s team. Both Tsutsui and Florescu believe that the team will just need to work hard and maintain the heart that they had this year for next year’s team to go far. “I don’t know what our team will look like next year, but I know our principles won’t change. We’re still going to be a team that runs and gets up and down the floor and plays pressure defense that frustrates other teams out of their minds,” Florescu said.
Boys’ golf wins four straight matches By Daniel Kim The boys’ golf team has a four game winning streak in the start its season with an overall record of 4-1. The Wolverines beat St. Francis and Alemany both times that they played each team. “We have a very young team this year, led by junior standout Charlie Benell,” Head Coach Scott Wood said. “We have had great performances as well from junior Max Goodley, sophomore Michael Aronson, freshman Bakari Bolden and senior captain Ernie Zaferis.” The team also participated in the Chaminade Invitational March 7
and placed fourth, shooting 425. “Before a big tournament, we are pretty loose as a team,” Wood said, “all the hard work has already been done, so it’s just a matter of relaxing and getting yourself into the space where you can perform your best on that given day.” Benell shot 78 and finished in second place. Chaminade won the invitational shooting 408, with Santa Barbara in second with 416, Servite in third with 423 overall. “It [Saticoy Country Club] is a very tough course,” Wood said. “The low individual score for the entire event was 77.” The team’s only loss came in its
first season match against Notre Dame. The Wolverines finished that match with eight strokes over Notre Dame. “I see the team being very inexperienced and having some small ups and downs this year, trying to figure out their identity,” Wood said, “but I also see them working very hard, competing for a league championship, and peaking at the end of the season for the playoffs and making a run toward the CIF Team Final and hopefully beyond.” The team played Chaminade Tuesday but the score was not available at press time. It will play Chaminade again Friday.
Softball starts undefeated JV softball currently holds an undefeated overall record of 4-0. The team has not yet played any league game, but is scheduled to play its first contest away on March 24 against Flintridge Sacred Heart Academy. The team defeated Taft on at the Lincoln Tournament at Poly High School with a score of 11-2, which was the last game they played. “We’ve been doing really well.,” Emily Plotkin ’13 said. The team’s latest game was on Tuesday against Los Angeles Baptist, but the score was not available as of press time. —Bo Lee
Swimming defeats Notre Dame After losing its first two meets of the year, the JV boys’ swim team is on a two-meet winning streak with home victories over Canyon and Notre Dame, improving the team’s overall record to 2-2 and its league record to 1-0. The girls’ JV team is 1-3, suffering a 113-38 loss to Canyon before picking up its first win, a league victory over Notre Dame. Both teams will look to pick up another league win against Flintridge Sacred Heart at Loyola High School tomorrow. —Micah Sperling
Golf hopes to avenge Loyola loss After beginning its season with a 200-213 loss against Loyola, the JV boys’ golf team has a record of 0-1. Jacob Weiss ’13 and Danny Belgrad ’13 are working to win spots on the varsity squad. “I’ve been playing and practicing every week leading up to the season to possibly play a varsity match later in the year,” Belgrad said. The team has four more matches in its five match season with two against Chaminade and one more match against their rival Cubs on April 11 at Griffith Park. —Michael Aronson
Volleyball with 2 wins, 5 losses As it approaches the midway point in its season, the JV boys’ volleyball team sports an overall record of 2-5, 1-2 in league with victories over Chaminade and Oaks Christian. “Our strengths definitely include having a deep bench full of talent,” Hugo deCastroAberger ’13 said. “Our team consists of mostly freshmen which, at first, I thought was going to be a big issue for our success, but it turns out that the freshmen have a lot of talent and will definitely have a huge impact on the future.” The results of the game against Loyola were not available at press time. The team’s next game is Thursday against Crespi. —Robbie Loeb